Birth Certificate

You request your birth certificate from Division of Vital Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The request can be made by mail, in person, and over the internet (if you have a credit card). If you were born in Pennsylvania, to request your birth certificate, you need:

to be at least age 18, or
if you are under age 18, the request must be made by a family member, lawyer, or caseworker
if you do not have the required identification listed below, the request can be made by a family member, lawyer, or caseworker

To make the request, you also need to provide the following information:

Your name
Date of birth
City and county you were born in
Your parents' name
Your signature
Government issued picture i.d. (if you are under 18, the requestor must provide the picture i.d.)
$20.00 Check or money order made payable to Vital Records

For more information on requesting your birth certificate click here.

Social Security Card

You request a social security card from the Social Security Administration. You need to make the request in person at your local Social Security Office. Go to: https://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/ for more information. To find your local office enter your zip code at https://secure.ssa.gov/ICON/main.jsp.

To get your social security card you must:

be age 18 or older
picture id (this should be state id, but an employee or school id with a picture may be accepted--check https://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/ss5doc.htm for more information on what id will be accepted)

To download the application for a social security card see https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ss-5.pdf. There is no fee to get your social security card. Please use the Social Security Administration's website to apply for your card. Other business or websites will charge you a fee, and they may be unsecure.

PA State ID

You can get your state id and driver's license from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. To find your local office, click on here. To get your state id card, you need the following identification information if you age 18 or older:

Your Social Security Card
$28.50
One of the items from List A ((to show identity) AND
One of the items from List B: (to show residency)

List A

Official birth certificate
Certificate of US citizenship
Certificate of naturalization
U.S. Passport
U.S. Military Photo ID Card

List B

Tax records
Lease agreements
W-2 Forms
Current Utility Bills

PLEASE NOTE: If you do not have any of the items in List B to show residency, you can have a caseworker write a letter that explains your housing situation, that you are a PA resident, and provides a mailing address. In most cases, this is sufficient.

You can download the application for PA state ID at http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/pdotforms/dl_forms/dl-54a.pdf